Episode 92
Hong Gyeong-jun, who paused for a moment, spoke again.
“…How long…?”
Seeing that he rarely spoke, it seemed like Lee Jae-heon was too unfamiliar for this guy to interrogate him without hesitation.
‘Still… it wouldn’t have been very unexpected.’
I inwardly tilted my head.
Considering the nuance and ability that Lee Jae-heon has displayed so far, there is no way that the smart Hong Kyung-jun did not know about this setting. Nevertheless, the fact that he reacted like that was probably because he felt sorry for Lee Jae-heon’s past.
Lee Jae-heon, who was contemplating how to answer Detective Hong Gyeong-jun’s question, soon spoke in an interrogative form.
“…I don’t really remember.”
“….”
“It must have been over 10 years…?”
Yes, it is set at least 10 years.
The details of the setting are still undecided, but in order to add probability to his life, the time that ‘Jae-heon Lee’ was consumed by the secret world had to be quite long. Just living for a year or two won’t create such a capable psychopath.
“First of all, what does it mean?”
“I really don’t remember. I’ve never really counted. Detective, have you been counting exactly how many days have passed since you came to this world?”
“….”
“Me too.”
And at this point, I lighten the mood.
“Even after leaving this world… I didn’t really want to know how much time had passed.”
“…Can you escape? here?”
Detective Hong Gyeong-jun’s questions also revealed other people’s faces.
‘Maybe it was so difficult that he couldn’t even think of getting out.’
When despair is so severe, you don’t even want to see hope.
It was infested with monsters, and under the sky of the other world, my mind was being chipped away by the hour, so perhaps it was only natural that I couldn’t even think about escaping. People in this world are particularly soft, so I was able to understand that much.
Jaeheon Lee roughly nodded.
“It is possible if you are lucky and capable.”
“What is luck and what is ability?”
“There is a monster that, if you kill it, will allow you to return to reality. “There is no specific specific monster that lives where, so you will need luck, and since most of those monsters are strong, you will also need ability.”
“Ah…”
An exclamation came from someone other than Detective Hong Gyeong-jun. It may be because of the joy of knowing something, but at the same time, the uncertainty of the future. As Lee Jae-heon said, it is a situation that requires both luck and ability.
Unlike those people, Hong Gyeong-jun seemed to have regained his cool.
“…So Jaeheon Lee, have you tried killing such a monster? “How many?”
He was checking whether Lee Jae-heon had such ‘ability’ and at the same time asking how many times he had visited the secret world.
Lee Jae-heon, wiping the corners of his mouth once, answered.
“I killed him about twice. “I don’t know who killed the rest.”
“…You can’t know.”
“Because if you sacrifice and kill just one person, the rest can get out alive. “It was probably killed by a survivor who was far away from me and didn’t know what he was doing.”
“How many times is that in total?”
“…third time? “About four times?”
“Is that so.”
Detective Hong Gyeong-jun continued.
“Jaeheon Lee, you have visited this world at least five times.”
At those words, Jaeheon Lee felt the crowd become quiet again.
I was so embarrassed that I didn’t look at intern Noh Yeon-seok, but the other guys sitting across from me couldn’t do that. It seemed like they were finally feeling sorry or pity for him.
‘…I think I may have over-exaggerated the number, but this is roughly the correct calculation.’
Lee Jae-heon knew too accurately about the process of escaping from the underworld. He is able to provide such objective information because he has read about this world through novels, but it was difficult to obtain information as clear as this after going back and forth once or twice.
In fact, from the perspective of a ‘survivor’, it is difficult to see the overall flow because they are so focused on surviving right now. I’m going to die soon, so I don’t know what the origin of this world is and what the rules are. Moreover, since it is not a question of survival ability but a ‘way out’, I had to have come and gone at least 5 times to be this confident.
Lee Jae-heon sighed inwardly.
‘Well, this route isn’t bad, but…’
As expected, it was very disappointing that the plan to instill caution was aborted due to an appearance reminiscent of a horror movie. I thought this would be able to create an appropriate amount of distance, but nothing really worked.
Hong Gyeong-jun, who did not know Lee Jae-heon’s carefree nature, still had a serious face.
“Like you said, luck and ability may not have been on your side every time, so I don’t think you escaped within a day or two.”
“I guess so.”
“Since when did you come into this world…?”
But unlike that face, he seemed to have a lot of questions.
“Once you leave, isn’t it over…? Why did you come here again? Are there any rules? Why why why….”
“….”
“…I’m sorry.”
It seemed like he knew he was excited too.
‘Well, there’s no way that guy’s condition is normal.’
Lee Jae-heon, who had seen everything, came to this point, and even if he was a homicide detective Hong Kyeong-jun, there was no way he could be sane. Since there are people leading them, they may not show it, but inside they are probably in a twisted state.
‘Even so, it’s much better than the original content.’
Jaeheon Lee just lightly shrugged his shoulders.
“As I said just now, there is a lot more I don’t know. “It means I don’t know why I was brought here again.”
“…I guess so.”
“Still, if there’s something I can tell you…”
he continued in a calm tone.
“Elementary student?”
“…yes?”
“Didn’t you ask since when did you come here?”
“So… you were an elementary school student?”
“I don’t really remember, but I think it was probably the first time I came here.”
And there was a reason why they called elementary school students out of all the age groups. This is not just to explain the generous number of visits, ‘at least 5 times’.
he thought to himself.
‘At that point, even if something unexpected happens in the future, we will be able to cover it with the settings.’
In short, it is a problem of unexpected variables that will arise in the future.
There are many different events in the underworld, and in the process, Lee Jae-heon’s childhood could have been exposed. Let’s say Lee Jae-heon, a teenager, is crazy compared to his peers in this world. In order to have something to excuse, he should have been in and out of the underworld since he was a young child.
Of course, I don’t know whether the ‘childhood’ so exposed is from my past life or my current life…
‘It would be better to establish that in advance.’
Anyway, given Lee Jae-heon’s setting, no one could know his ‘true past’.
‘As for the classmates who were devoured by the underworld, all of them are dead, and the survivor and Ha Seong-yoon’s friend who will appear later… let’s just pretend that I wasn’t there when that person was there.’
It wasn’t just nonsense made up.
The secret world preys on new people every year and swallows up those who escaped, but the time at which they are eaten again is random. This means that no matter how veteran Lee Jae-heon is, he is not always residing in the underworld.
‘The reason you get eaten like that two or three times in the first place is because if you’ve been to the underworld even once, the chance of getting eaten increases.’
In fact, it wasn’t like the underworld knew what it was and ate it again. Usually, the survivors of the underworld are mentally ill, and the underworld just has a knack for sucking in those mentally ill people. Even if you end up in the underworld, if you are of sound mind and healthy, you may not be eaten again.
‘Of course, if even one of the riders who are treated as a lump is dragged away… they will just be eaten together.’
Moreover, the survivor who was presumed to be Ha Seong-yoon’s friend was a beginner who had been to the underworld only once. Since it was said that he was eaten for about 2 to 3 years, there is no reason why he had to encounter Lee Jae-heon even if he was the same survivor. This was the basis on which he was able to arbitrarily create the past as he pleases.
And intern Noh Yeon-seok had a breakdown.
“…? yes?”
“? What.”
“yes? No, yes? “I just finished elementary school…?”
“What is it?”
“No, Manager, just say that.”
He shouted lowly, almost in anger.
“…What is it really…! Why didn’t you tell us about that…! No, no, elementary school students? elementary? Elementary school lights? From 8 to 13 years old? really?!”
“No, that. Probably in your senior year….”
“You’re in your senior year and you’re up to 13 years old! At least 4th grade of elementary school! 11 years old! I turned 10 years older by one year! “At that time, I ate a lot of ice cream and was lying down with an upset stomach!”
“…No…”
“For some reason, I felt like I knew something. Same at that lake! Anyway, isn’t that really too much for elementary school students? “Why do you say that so calmly?”
The younger chick spoke in astonishment, and Jaeheon Lee was shocked at that moment because he thought a bundle of bright yellow fur was having a seizure. So what on earth do you want to say, you bastard?
Then suddenly I realized.
‘…No, wait a minute, is this guy talking to me informally?’
Lee Jae-heon’s eyebrows naturally shrunk, but it doesn’t seem to have caught the chick’s eye.
He was trembling in a lively manner that Lee Jae-heon had never seen in his life. If you had handled your work well with that much energy, would I have cursed you that much?
“Manager, really. Seriously, why didn’t you tell us that…!”
“…Who says that’s good…?”
“It’s not like I’m speaking out to please anyone, please! This is why people say you’re not human, right? The manager may think he’s normal, but that’s really not normal! “I have to go to the counseling room!”
“Yeonseok talks a bit harshly?”
“…No, I didn’t swear at you.”
Jaeheon Lee found it funny that he kept his mouth shut and burst into laughter. I really want you all to just do your best and get out of here. I’ll just squeeze it until the juice comes out.
President Choi Jeong-man, who was quietly looking at Lee Jae-heon, quietly intervened.
“…that thing. Is that really true? “You mean you’ve been coming here since you were in elementary school?”
“…? “Do you have any reason to lie?”
Of course there was, but you don’t know.
But from those people’s perspective, it was obvious that they had no reason to lie.
Why would Lee Jae-heon manipulate his career so that he could gain something from it? Unlike in real companies, they don’t give you a higher pension just because you’ve been in the secret world for a long time.
And Kim Ki-jeong’s expression was distorted by Lee Jae-heon’s calm face.
“…have you ever received counseling… or something like that…?”
“…Why am I consulting?”
“Besides full-scale counseling, it’s just something like psychotherapy…”
“Treatment?”
“….”
Why does the flow really go this way?
‘Was this supposed to go this way?’
When the conductor, who seemed to have nothing to say, closed his mouth, the Korean university student sitting cross-legged next to him cheerfully raised his hand and opened his mouth.
“It must have been difficult for you to carry out your daily life at that level, so haven’t you thought about getting psychological counseling?”
“Are you swearing right now? Can I take this as an insult?”
“…? “It wasn’t an insult, I meant it.”
“Huh.”
That serious idiot.
Lee Jae-heon recalled the feelings he felt when he first read about the Korean college student in the novel, and he frowned at the reactions of those around him who called him crazy. To be honest, I felt even more uncomfortable because it was true that he was actually mentally ill.
Lee Jae-heon, who thought for a moment, slowly opened his mouth.
“…There were no problems in daily life.”
“You don’t have to cause a problem to be a problem, right? Even if there is no problem on the outside, there is something wrong with your common sense, you are having nightmares, or hallucinations…”
“You better shut up.”
President Choi Jeong-man, with a shocked face, covered Vivian’s mouth, but the sour expression on Lee Jae-heon’s face, who had already heard enough, did not disappear. No matter how crazy I may be, wouldn’t it be another problem to be called crazy to my face?
Looking at Lee Jae-heon like that, Detective Hong Gyeong-jun, who had been quiet until now, opened his mouth.
“It’s a bit awkward for me, who has this job, to say this, but is it true that there really were no problems?”
“Huh.”
“I’m not trying to call Mr. Lee Jae-heon crazy and I have no intention of insulting him. “As a detective, I’m not trying to weed out suspects who might be problematic.”
It’s a shame that it isn’t.
‘I don’t think you’ll even be suspicious.’
After all, Detective Hong had a criminal radar. You must have felt uncomfortable with Lee Jae-heon several times, so it is inevitable that you are instinctively suspicious.
Of course, it was partly aimed at that point, but…
“…It’s okay. At least in real life, I haven’t committed a crime.”
I felt a little unreasonable loneliness.
I didn’t really do anything crazy, I just said that I stopped by here when I was young.
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to adapt properly once I get out of here.’
At least the other side of the world had some similarities with the world of my previous life. That’s why Lee Jae-heon was also able to openly reveal his uniqueness, but in the end, I was worried about what would happen when he left this place completely. I was worried about whether I would be able to live with soft thoughts like these people.
Of course, it was a useless delusion now.
“I’m sorry if you were offended, but it wasn’t my intention to question you.”
“…or I’m lucky.”
In any case, Lee Jae-heon was a valuable person here and now.
“Is there anything else you’d like to ask?”
